No Wonder New Managers Beat Their Heads Against The Wall!

It turns out that the brain has an automatic mode and a manual mode and they are very real and different parts of the brain for handling different functions. I am not talking about the autonomic vs. somatic nervous systems. I am referring to portions of the brain which handle our experiences in different ways.

According to David Rock, author of “Your Brain at Work” one portion of the brain, the pre-frontal cortex, is responsible for learning and handling new information and situations while another, the basal ganglia, handles stuff we already know how to do and can do almost in our sleep. Rock uses the analogy of driving. When we first learn to drive we have to consciously make each movement. We have to consciously think about which foot to use, when, how much pressure to apply, etc. As we gain experience the basal ganglia sort of automates this process for us.

So, what does this have to do with new managers? Think about it! Yes, you got it, they literally have to expend more energy thinking more frequently about things that are not common to them, at least for the moment.  And according to Rock, this does literally chew up energy as well, and like old batteries it takes time and energy to recharge.

To complicate matters (or simplify depending on your point of view) it turns out that our highly advanced brains aren’t so much.  We can, at most handle up to three or four new thoughts or ‘chunks’ of thought at a time in our pre-frontal cortex, and if the thoughts are at all complicated then that number is lowered. In fact, the ideal number is – ONE!  So when disruptions, such as a boss or employee, intrude on a new managers time, the manager now loses focus, energy and is stressed out due to overload.

Which is why they bang their heads against the wall!  They are trying to dislodge the information and get it moving again.

I think there are implications beyond those for the new blue collar worker turned supervisor or manager.  Think about how they typically learn and view progress.  They used to ‘see’ their work in their minds eye with (relatively) little conscious thought. They saw what they needed to do with a 2 X 4 or a piece of pipe. Now we have them looking at what they have to do with paper, and each piece of paper represents something different.

This is eating up time and energy.  They are going to need help with that, if nothing more than a little slack and down time until it all becomes familiar to them.

If you need help training, supporting or understanding your supervisor or manager, we need to talk. Call me, Bart Gragg of Blue Collar University, at 925.757.7473.

Similar Posts:

None Found

 Print This Post

Tagged as: Management Challenges, Management support, Training